With the launch of the PS Vita earlier this year, Sony and Nintendo have squared off for the second round of the Handheld Wars. Despite Sony's efforts to unseat his company from its longtime handheld throne, Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto thinks the Vita is a cool bit of technology - it just doesn't have the software to make it a strong product.

"It's obviously a very hi-spec machine, and you can do lots of things with it," Miyamoto told Edge. "But I don't really see the combination of software and hardware that really makes a very strong product."

A lack of software, however, wasn't just a problem that Sony faced. Miyamoto admitted that the 3DS had had issues with a similar lack of compelling launch titles. "When we launched the 3DS hardware we didn't have Super Mario 3D Land, we didn't have Mario Kart 7, we didn't have Kid Icarus: Uprising," he said, noting that they had been initially planned for launch but development had lagged.

"We were kind of hoping that people would, nevertheless, buy into the product, find 3DS hardware promising, but looking back we have to say we realize the key software was missing when we launched the hardware."

The numbers back up Miyamoto's points that software is king - sort of. After a very strong worldwide launch, Vita sales slumped, particularly in Japan, where Nintendo's 3DS has reigned since last summer. Sony announced that the Vita had sold 1.2 million units worldwide by the end of February; in March, Nintendo announced that the 3DS had sold 17 million units, though to be fair it did have a year's head start.

Of course, when we say that the 3DS has sold very well since last summer, this has nothing to do with any of the big-name games that Miyamoto mentioned - which either came out in the holiday season or just fairly recently - and everything to do with Nintendo slashing the price from $249 to $169 in August.

If Sony were to similarly cut the price on the Vita (currently $249 for the Wi-Fi model, $299 for the 3G) it might suddenly find itself in a much more competitive position - as analysts suggested back in February.

The full Edge interview with Shigeru Miyamoto will be in the next issue of the magazine, if you're interested in reading the whole thing.

No, It need to have Persona 4 the Golden come out for it, then things will get better for the system as I will purchase one when the game is released, along with Wipeout 2048, Final Fantasy X HD, UMVC, Street Fighter X Tekken etc...I will also buy some PS1 games like FF7+8+9 and Alundra once the PS1 thing gets working.

Also, I heard rumors of a GTA game in development for the Vita, as well as Final Fantasy Type-O being ported to it for the English release, is this true?

He's right. I don't understand what Sony is doing. They can't seem to learn from their or Nintendo's past mistakes. I want a Vita, but it doesn't have anything to justify a purchase. It only has like 2-3 games I want right now.

TizzytheTormentor:No, It need to have Persona 4 the Golden come out for it, then things will get better for the system as I will purchase one when the game is released, along with Wipeout 2048, Final Fantasy X HD, UMVC, Street Fighter X Tekken etc...I will also buy some PS1 games like FF7+8+9 and Alundra once the PS1 thing gets working.

Also, I heard rumors of a GTA game in development for the Vita, as well as Final Fantasy Type-O being ported to it for the English release, is this true?

That is the Vita's problem. It has no good amount of original games right now and the only game I hear people saying that is actually original coming out is Gravity Rush. You are saying you will get the Vita for a game that already exists for much cheaper elsewhere. Saying a remake will be the Vita's killer title is absolutely insane. Right now on the Vita there are 5 original titles total. Of those 5 only 3 are above a 4 star rating. Of those 3 one of them is a cheap indie title, one of them is a generic third person shooter who had it's entire dev staff laid off before the game was even released, and the other one apparently uses the touch screens as it's entire control method. After all of my experiences with the touch screens I cannot put into words how bad an idea that is. I don't know if the Vita really needs a price cut but I will say it needs actual original titles on it. There's no point in spending $250 plus a memory card just for another uncharted. Not to mention that remote play function for the Vita only works with Hustle Kings, MLB 12 The Show, and Wipeout 2048.

captcha: lunatic fridge...um is that in any of the Persona games? Usually the captcha is pretty spot on with these things.

It's strange how they do something as spectacularly wrong as the PS3 launch, couple it with the general uselessness of the PSP (well, to sony anyway, they're not getting paid for the kind of software you put on it hurr hurr), and then have it all boil down to their new handheld which is basically the face of Sony gaming until they get to the next generation and it repeats the mistakes of both, and makes them WORSE.

Even if they price it down to 100 bucks I won't be getting one because what am I gonna do with it? They're already competing with themselves because the PSP actually has some games, and the Vita can't play them...forget 3D being a gimmick, I'd rather deal with that than something that can't compete with itself, much less a smartphone.

TizzytheTormentor:No, It need to have Persona 4 the Golden come out for it, then things will get better for the system as I will purchase one when the game is released, along with Wipeout 2048, Final Fantasy X HD, UMVC, Street Fighter X Tekken etc...I will also buy some PS1 games like FF7+8+9 and Alundra once the PS1 thing gets working.

Also, I heard rumors of a GTA game in development for the Vita, as well as Final Fantasy Type-O being ported to it for the English release, is this true?

That is the Vita's problem. It has no good amount of original games right now and the only game I hear people saying that is actually original coming out is Gravity Rush. You are saying you will get the Vita for a game that already exists for much cheaper elsewhere. Saying a remake will be the Vita's killer title is absolutely insane. Right now on the Vita there are 5 original titles total. Of those 5 only 3 are above a 4 star rating. Of those 3 one of them is a cheap indie title, one of them is a generic third person shooter who had it's entire dev staff laid off before the game was even released, and the other one apparently uses the touch screens as it's entire control method. After all of my experiences with the touch screens I cannot put into words how bad an idea that is. I don't know if the Vita really needs a price cut but I will say it needs actual original titles on it. There's no point in spending $250 plus a memory card just for another uncharted. Not to mention that remote play function for the Vita only works with Hustle Kings, MLB 12 The Show, and Wipeout 2048.

captcha: lunatic fridge...um is that in any of the Persona games? Usually the captcha is pretty spot on with these things.

So? I plan to get a Vita for those games and eventually, better games will come out for it. Happened with the 3DS, It will happen with the Vita. Also, many Persona 4 fans will be getting the updated remake, I assume you never played Persona 4 and have little idea of how much extra content is being added to an already brilliant game.

Also no, nothing about lunatic bridge has anything to do with persona.

Call Capcom,Have them put the next Monster Hunter on the Vita,Get them to release it outside of Japan this time,And that alone would guarantee a purchase from me and at least 500 hours of playtime within the next 3 months.

What it needed was backwards capability. I have 15 psp games that I haven't finished. Why? Because I use the psp when I'm on the go not as something I play all day. Which the funny thing is that if they ported psp games to the vita then they would have much more games. How come they did this in Japan but not the U.S.?

TizzytheTormentor:No, It need to have Persona 4 the Golden come out for it, then things will get better for the system as I will purchase one when the game is released, along with Wipeout 2048, Final Fantasy X HD, UMVC, Street Fighter X Tekken etc...I will also buy some PS1 games like FF7+8+9 and Alundra once the PS1 thing gets working.

Also, I heard rumors of a GTA game in development for the Vita, as well as Final Fantasy Type-O being ported to it for the English release, is this true?

That is the Vita's problem. It has no good amount of original games right now and the only game I hear people saying that is actually original coming out is Gravity Rush. You are saying you will get the Vita for a game that already exists for much cheaper elsewhere. Saying a remake will be the Vita's killer title is absolutely insane. Right now on the Vita there are 5 original titles total. Of those 5 only 3 are above a 4 star rating. Of those 3 one of them is a cheap indie title, one of them is a generic third person shooter who had it's entire dev staff laid off before the game was even released, and the other one apparently uses the touch screens as it's entire control method. After all of my experiences with the touch screens I cannot put into words how bad an idea that is. I don't know if the Vita really needs a price cut but I will say it needs actual original titles on it. There's no point in spending $250 plus a memory card just for another uncharted. Not to mention that remote play function for the Vita only works with Hustle Kings, MLB 12 The Show, and Wipeout 2048.

captcha: lunatic fridge...um is that in any of the Persona games? Usually the captcha is pretty spot on with these things.

So? I plan to get a Vita for those games and eventually, better games will come out for it. Happened with the 3DS, It will happen with the Vita. Also, many Persona 4 fans will be getting the updated remake, I assume you never played Persona 4 and have little idea of how much extra content is being added to an already brilliant game.

Also no, nothing about lunatic bridge has anything to do with persona.

The problem is how many people bought Persona 4 the first time around? Considering Atlus said Catherine was their biggest success ever and that only sold a few hundred thousand that's not really a hit title for most big publishers and certainly not what the Vita needs. I doubt Gravity Rush will be that title either but only because I don't see a lot of advertising for it. My point wasn't about the quality of Persona 4 but you don't sell a system by remaking an older game that's for the most part obscure. Especially when that game can be bought along with the system it was on for about half the price of the newer system without the game.

The problem with the Vita is not that it doesn't have software. It just doesn't have any of the software of the big names to call its own. Either the game has to be incredible awesome that it just grabs everyone, or it they need franchise hits that are not ports. And they have got to be something that can only be experienced on the Vita. If it is a game that could work on the PS3 then no dice. PSP had a bunch of good games, and you wanna know what happened to a bunch of them? PS3 HD remakes.

3DS is lucky it is mostly backwards compatible with DS family (perfect backwards compatibility is lost on Guitar Hero: On Tour, but that game was kinda weak), as well as having a large library of decent to good 3DS games with a few amazing games. All Vita has are playable to good games. They need a killer app that is only on the Vita and can only be on the Vita.

Sony needs a price drop and an app market, with prices comparable to AppleApp Store/Droid Marketplace.

This might not be what the Vita needs, but it could help: increased cross usability with PS3 titles. Hear me out. Nintendo is making the WiiU. The WiiU tablet is a touch screen that can be used as an auxiliary screen for the games. With this touch screen you can manage inventory, look at a map, remove the HUD from the main screen, all sorts of stuff. The Vita can already talk to the PS3, so why not step it up and get it to act as one of the PS3 controllers? I only use 5 of my 7 PS3 controller ports (1, 2, 3, 4, remote) why not add Vita to the list and beat Nintendo to the punch? Even better: the Vita you can take away from the PS3 and it can still play games; if you try the same with WiiU tablet, it just doesn't do anything. If you already have a PS3 and want a WiiU type experience, just get Move and Vita.

orangeapples:The problem with the Vita is not that it doesn't have software. It just doesn't have any of the software of the big names to call its own. Either the game has to be incredible awesome that it just grabs everyone, or it they need franchise hits that are not ports. And they have got to be something that can only be experienced on the Vita. If it is a game that could work on the PS3 then no dice. PSP had a bunch of good games, and you wanna know what happened to a bunch of them? PS3 HD remakes.

3DS is lucky it is mostly backwards compatible with DS family (perfect backwards compatibility is lost on Guitar Hero: On Tour, but that game was kinda weak), as well as having a large library of decent to good 3DS games with a few amazing games. All Vita has are playable to good games. They need a killer app that is only on the Vita and can only be on the Vita.

Yep agreed totally. One of the few good "original" games on it is just a third person shooter while the other 2 original titles on it are some cheap titles. The games I'm referring to are Unit 14, Escape Plan, and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack since they are the only 3 original (as in not a spinoff of another series like Uncharted or a port like Rayman Origins) games on the Vita that are above a 4 star rating. Unit 14 is the third person shooter and the other 2 are the cheap games (Escape Plan being $15 on the PSN and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack being $7).

orangeapples:Sony needs a price drop and an app market, with prices comparable to AppleApp Store/Droid Marketplace.

The PSP games on their need some serious price cuts as well. Half of the PSP games I see on there I could go buy a physical copy of for half to a third of the price. It's absurd. Thankfully a few people are pricing their games reasonably like XSEED whose games are mostly $10-15. They also need to work on their PSP compatibility for it as well since if I had to guess I would say only half to a third of the PSP games on PSN can be bought on the Vita. I was going to buy all the games in the Ys series again for the Vita but one of them isn't on there. There's a lot of problems with it that need to be fixed.

Technically, they can't lower the price. They're already selling it at a loss, with a projected 3 years before profit is made. Even a $50 price cut would be painful. A price cut isn't what they need. What they need is what's already been stated in this thread. They need to release games outside of Japan that people actually want instead of hording all of the good stuff and claiming the Western market is failing.

SuperTrainStationH:It's unfortunate, because IMO, the Vita came out of the gate with one of the strongest day 1 launch libraries I've ever seen on ANY new system.

So I'm guessing you got into gaming after the Playstation 2 was released. Heck, the Gamecube had a stronger launch library than the Vita. The Playstation One (original) had a stronger launch library. The games that the PS Vita launched with can be counted on both hands but with fingers to spare.

It's probably just me but I just wasn't impressed with the new Mario game and Starfox wasn't worth $40 considering it's just a port and not a great one (like Zelda). Mario Kart has been going downhill since Mario Kart Double Dash, the more people complain about the blue shells, the more of them Nintendo puts in. Further, the eshop is a joke. It is going down in flames just like the Wii shop did.

Geez I didn't realize they sold that much. Well I guess I should get Freedom Unite on the Vita. It's not the 4.1 million game but it's the only Monster Hunter available for Vita from the PSP/Vita section.EDIT: Crap I forgot to mention this but here's the thing. THEY ADVERTISED IT ON THE VITA! Back at Sony's press conference a couple years ago when it was still the NGP Capcom went up there and showed the HD version of Monster Hunters Portable 3rd on the Vita. They said it only took a few weeks to port it on there and they didn't actually release it on there. Well it doesn't matter much now since Capcom has basically gone full Nintendo and is putting both Tri&4 on the 3DS.

The problem isn't that the vita needs more games, it's that Sony needs some more IPs.

The 3DS didn't have many or any games when it came out, but people bought it eventually. It slowly picked up as more good games came out, good games everyone knew were coming. Can you say that for the Vita? If I buy a vita am I guaranteed at least some good first party games? Not really, and that was the problem with the PSP to. The PSP also had better specs then the DS, which didn't help it... not one bit. This is just history repeating itself, like I said it would before either of these systems came out. Sony just doesn't make games like they used to, and Nintendo - even though getting crappy in the hardware department - still delivers the goods.

I don't know what happened to all those people who made Sony games during the PS1 and PS2 era, but damn do we need those people back because they knew what was fun and what wasn't.